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Monday, February 14, 2011

Baby's First Birthday

Baby's first birthday was a huge success.

If you remember, I was a little stressed with party planning. I didn't have a lot of time to put things together or go shopping for supplies. Plus, I didn't know how I would fit everyone in the house if it rained. However, it all worked out in the end.

The weather was gorgeous, to start off with. Then, I had a few families cancel on me due to illness or last minute plans spring up. While disappointed they couldn't make it, especially since they were ones with children, I was a little relieved that I wouldn't have to plan for them.

Baby and I went out shopping in the morning to pick up the food. I was keeping the menu simple with kid friendly foods. I had also baked all the cupcakes the night before so I wouldn't have to do any baking the day of. Husband stayed home to make his famous mac' and cheese. He also did some cleaning and yard work.

When I got home my mother came over to help with prep work and play with Baby. Pretty soon we had everything set up except for decorations. I had a cupcake table where people could add their own toppings (I recommend this if you are short on time. It was so much easier not to have to frost cupcakes, and I think people had fun doing their own.). I also had a cute Disney princess tower on which to stack the cupcakes.

On the other table I had a spread of apples and caramel dip, assorted veggies with ranch dip, chicken nuggets, the mac' and cheese, cheese and crackers, and chips. For drinks, I had Capri Suns and natural sodas.

The first set of guests arrived before I had a chance to set up decorations, so I put them to work (they are a close couple friend of ours). They put up crepe paper for me to make the rooms look festive. I had balloons, but apparently I had bought the wrong kind. When Husband blew them up, they said Happy Valentine's Day instead of Happy Birthday. We tried turning them inside out to hide the words, but it didn't work. We only blew up two.

People started to arrive and Baby was excited to see all the people. She was so cute entertaining everyone. She was in a good mood (she had napped right before) and was much more relaxed than at Christmas time.

I had a coloring station set up for the older kids (it was a box turned on its side with a few small chairs. I didn't have anything kid sized, so I was very proud of my box idea) and all of Babies toys were out. People hung out and ate. Then Baby opened her presents (meaning, I opened Baby's presents and tried to get her interested. The older kids were more interested than her.).

She got a ton of toys for her birthday. She received a lot of educational toys, which was great. She got quite a few books to add to her library, a lot of shape sorting toys and building toys, and some really cute outfits.

I had a lot of fun, Baby had a lot of fun, and I hope the people who came had a lot of fun. Even though it was pretty basic, I think next year I might try to have it in some type of kid facility. We'll see.

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About Me

I am a public school teacher turned stay at home mom to three little ones. I'm just trying to figure out how to balance this thing called life and thought I would document it honestly at the same time. Please feel free to comment!